Homemade smoked mackerel. Cold smoked mackerel at home

Health 27.02.2021

Health

When we start talking about smoked fish, which would be affordable and inexpensive, for some reason we remember mackerel. This representative of mackerels has truly won the love of our consumer, and not only because of the price. Mackerel meat is quite fatty, which makes it unusually tender and soft, and a small number of bones makes it possible to feed even small children with fish.

Useful qualities of mackerel meat

Mackerel can be cooked in any form, and in any form, a deliciously cooked product is obtained, which, moreover, has great benefits for the body, and a detailed analysis chemical composition- confirmation of this. Mackerel meat is rich in proteins, fats, vitamins and trace elements.

Squirrels have never hurt anyone, but for those who practice vigorous activity they are simply necessary. Some dieters try to exclude proteins from their diet. Here they allow grossest mistake. It has already been scientifically proven that vegetarianism does not benefit the body, but all because plant foods do not contain those amino acids that are generated from meat. There is no longer any talk of protein, in order to replenish the daily allowance, you will have to eat an incredible amount of “grass”. The fish is able to fill the body with half the norm.

Fats are broken down very quickly, and they are not deposited in pure form, this means that it is simply impossible to gain weight from fish. Even the calorie counts prove this statement. 100 grams of mackerel gives an energy output of 190,000 calories. Of course, for fish, the indicator is even lower, but in relative terms, this is not much.

The complex of vitamins contained in mackerel covers all groups. It is even difficult to imagine another such universal product, from which the body would replenish its pantry. Medicine claims that vitamins are able to normalize all vital processes. So, vitamin A has a direct effect on visual acuity, vitamin B stabilizes the central nervous system, improves memory, vitamin C is responsible for immunity, vitamin D is needed for children in the formation of the skeleton.

Microelements also play an important role. In addition to the fact that quite rare metals are present in fish, it is also difficult to find them in their pure form in other products. Smoked fish is one of the cooking methods. Despite the fact that smoked meats are not recommended to be consumed in large quantities, the benefits from them are greater than the harm. When smoked, many useful substances are preserved, which cannot be said about boiling or frying.

It is not a problem to buy smoked fish in the store, but hot-smoked products, as you know, will not be stored for a long time, so you are buying a pig in a poke. And, what is important to emphasize, home-cooked hot-smoked mackerel looks much more presentable, and it has no competition in taste.

Choosing fish for smoking

Unfortunately, not every supplier or seller can boast of an impeccable reputation. Today, there are many ways to imitate the freshness of a product that has long expired. That is why when choosing a fish you will have to rely only on your knowledge.

Any literature will indicate that the best raw material for home smoking is live, freshly caught fish. AT middle lane Russian mackerel on the counter can be found smoked, salted, chilled and frozen. For obvious reasons, the first two options are not considered. Next, I want to give preference to chilled fish. But look at the map, find the area of its commercial production, and then compare the period of transportation with the period of storage of chilled carcasses. Have you changed your mind?

Unfortunately, the optimal in a safe way storage is considered freezing. But if you are sure of the freshness of the fish, then, of course, you should buy chilled mackerel. There is simple rules selection of fish that, perhaps, are suitable for each species. If in doubt about the expiration dates indicated on the price tag, then pay attention to the following signs:

carcasses should not be covered with a sticky opaque substance;
the film on the eyes is transparent, the eyes themselves are not sunken;
there is no foreign smell;
when you press your finger on the meat area, the depression should quickly disappear, indicating proper storage conditions.

Popular recipes for preparing for smoking

Before proceeding to the description of specific actions that should be performed step by step, let's talk about what is meant by the recipe, because the ability to supplement the dish with your own depends on this understanding. own fantasies. If the smoking process always proceeds in the same way, then it is impossible to say the same about salting.

There is a basic principle that allows you to cook meat or fish so that they become suitable for consumption, it is based on the need to salt the product, and then expose it to temperature. As a result of this, the structure of the protein changes, and the fish can be eaten.

All differences in the process are aimed at the use of certain ingredients that can only emphasize the taste, add smell, increase the shelf life. But the preparation of the carcass itself remains the same.

Work begins with defrosting. In no case should you soak the fish in hot water or put it in the microwave. In this case, the structure of the fibers is disturbed. If there is no time to wait for the natural melting of ice, then the correct and fast way defrosting consists in immersing the carcasses in cold water.
We cut the fish by extracting the entrails and the separation is ready. The black film covering the cavity must be removed, otherwise it will ruin delicious delicacy adding bitterness. The resulting carcass is properly washed in water. Now you can start implementing the recipes.

The most trivial way to salt mackerel at home is to use a dry marinade. It includes salt, as the main component, black pepper (ground) and other seasonings to taste. These seasonings can be replaced with chopped bay leaves.

To navigate the proportions, you should calculate the ingredients as follows: for 100 grams of salt, there are 5 grams of pepper and 10 grams of seasonings.

Salting mackerel for hot smoking takes place within 5-6 hours after each carcass is abundantly sprinkled with the prepared mixture. This ambassador is also called dry pickling. For more effective preparation of fish, you can salt it with oppression. Oppression promotes the release of moisture from the fibers, which mixes with salt and re-impregnates the meat. After lying in the refrigerator, the mackerel is ready for laying in the smokehouse, but first it will have to be dried or, at least, wiped dry with a napkin. Note that this recipe does not require soaking carcasses after salting. The thing is that fish meat does not absorb too much salt, so you can do with the usual wiping.

The following recipe will allow you to pickle fish at an even lower cost, because properly prepared natural mackerel needs only salt. Experts say that extra seasonings will only break the bouquet that is typical for fresh fish meat, especially for mackerel. Manipulations here are simple: it is enough to rub each carcass or each piece abundantly, and put it all into an enamel bowl. The fish should lie down for a day, and after that it is washed in water, dried and sent to the oil lamp.

It goes well with the taste of fresh and smoked fish, the aroma of lemon. But not everyone knows at what stage and in what form this ingredient should be added. To marinate fish in this way, in addition to the traditional ingredients, you need to prepare one lemon. The fish is rubbed with salt, as in the cases described above, and the lemon should be cut into slices and placed in abdominal cavity. After 10 hours, the fish is dried and you can start smoking. But mackerel should be smoked with this method of hot smoking directly with lemon. Its juice will saturate the fibers without harming them, but it will make the meat more fragrant and juicy.

We will tell you how to prepare a liquid marinade. With such salting, less salt is required, and the process itself will be faster. It is necessary to add 50 g of salt and those spices that you consider necessary to water brought to a temperature of 80 ° C degrees. The hot marinade must cool, and only then the fish is poured into it. It is salted within a couple of hours, and the degree of salting can be slightly adjusted. If there is a desire to make the fish lightly salted, then you will have to soak it in water.

hot smoking process

Not every sawdust will be appropriate in a smokehouse. It is advisable to use fruit trees(apple, cherry). But the easiest way to get alder chips, it is sold in the store and is inexpensive. One bookmark will require three handfuls, so it makes no sense to buy large volumes. Wood chips are spread evenly on the bottom of the box, which, in turn, is installed on the grill. So that the sawdust does not flare up, they are pre-soaked in water.

Directly under the sieves, where we will cook our fish, we will have to place a pallet. It can be a ready-made dish or a bowl made of foil, which serves to collect liquid, because getting juice from fish carcasses into wood chips is unacceptable.

Cooking smoked fish in an apartment is quite possible, but technically requires a more complex fixture. The lid of the smokehouse must be equipped with a water seal. There is a ready-made convection oven that blows smoke into a special chamber. You can also simulate smoking with liquid smoke, soaking carcasses in it. Heat treatment is carried out in the usual way in the oven. But the process itself, and the result of smoking in nature, in the country can not be compared with any imitation.

One way or another, after 30 minutes of smoking, the product will be completely ready. But they are in no hurry to extract it from the smokehouse. First you need to wait for the box to cool completely, and then it is advisable to ventilate the fish from excessive smoke. It is noteworthy that hot smoking will allow you to enjoy your favorite dish on the same day when cooking was started.

Cooking time: 30 min

4 servings

What is required to cook hot smoked mackerel at home

Consider the option in which you need to cook this dish for four people. To do this, you will need four carcasses of mackerel and four tablespoons of salt. In addition, you will need the following equipment:

fresh mackerel;
food film;
smokehouse and firewood to it;
alder sawdust.

The process of smoking mackerel at home

It consists of the following steps:

Fish cleaning

As a rule, mackerel is sold frozen, and the carcasses must first be thawed. To do this, pour cold water into a bowl and place the mackerel there - after an hour and a half, the defrosting process will be completed.

Attention! To speed up the defrosting of mackerel, it cannot be placed in hot and even warm water: the meat will soften and may move away from the bones, as a result of which the fish for cooking will be unsuitable.

After defrosting is completed, the heads of the fish carcasses are cut off and the insides are removed, after which they are thoroughly washed and wiped dry.

After that, we make a hole in the tail of the carcass, we pass a twenty-centimeter piece of twine into it, the ends of which we then tie in such a way that a loop forms - it will be needed to hang the carcass in the smokehouse.

Salting

Pour into a deep bowl required amount salt. We take a mackerel carcass, put it in an iron tray, and rub salt there. You should not be overly zealous in this process, otherwise the skin can be torn off the fish, and it will lose its attractive appearance.

One tablespoon of salt will be enough to rub the carcass of mackerel inside and out.

The fish processed in this way is placed in an iron tray, wrapped tightly in cling film and put in the refrigerator for eight to ten hours.

Drying

After the specified time has passed, we remove the tray with fish from the refrigerator, and thoroughly rinse the mackerel carcasses under running tap water. Next, the fish must be dried, and for this purpose it can be hung, for example, in the kitchen - an hour at room temperature will be enough for the fish to dry.

In parallel with drying the fish, we prepare alder sawdust for use. To do this, put them in a metal bowl and moisten with water - four tablespoons of water will be enough for two handfuls of sawdust.

Attention! In this process, it is important that the sawdust ends up not too dry and not too wet. In the first case, they will simply burn, and the fish along with them, and in the second, they will not give enough smoke, which will affect the quality of smoking.

Preparing the smokehouse and smoking

Soaked sawdust is laid out in an even layer on the bottom of the smokehouse. After that, to heat the smokehouse, we set fire to firewood, adjusting the flame so that the fire is medium. We string fish carcasses onto the metal crossbars inside the dryer with the help of loops, and we do this in such a way that there is a gap of five to six centimeters between the hung fish.

We cover the smokehouse with a lid as tightly as possible, and keep it in this state for fifteen minutes. Then we open the container, release smoke from it (if this is not done, the fish may taste bitter), after which we put the lid back in place. After thirty minutes, the smoking process will be completed, we remove the fish from the smokehouse, remove it from the crossbar and place it back in the tray. After it has cooled, we hang the carcasses on a rope in a cool place, and leave for four to seven hours.

Then we remove the fish, remove the twine from it, and it, being placed in a tray and put in the refrigerator, can be stored for three to four days.

Attention! Longer storage is undesirable, as mackerel may deteriorate in taste and develop a specific smell.

How hot smoked mackerel is served

Cooked fish can be served in a variety of ways, ranging from a variety of salads to cuts for sandwiches. In addition, mackerel can be served as an appetizer with various types of alcoholic beverages. In addition, many housewives have their own recipes for dishes made from smoked mackerel, so you can show yours too. Creative skills in this matter.

To conclude this article, we would like to present a few useful advice, which are useful when cooking hot smoked mackerel at home:

A small fire is quite suitable for smoking mackerel, but you need to smoke fish on it for at least two hours.
If you are the owner of a home electric smokehouse, then you need to set the temperature in it to 100 degrees and keep the fish there for an hour and a half.
In addition to alder, sawdust and other deciduous and coniferous trees. The only condition is that they must be without bark, otherwise the fish will have a specific aftertaste.
If desired, in addition to salt, various spices can be used in the preparation of hot smoked mackerel - it all depends on your taste.

Video: hot smoked mackerel

mackerel - very useful fish, it improves brain function, normalizes metabolism and has a positive effect on cardiovascular system.

Smoked mackerel at home - the basic principles of cooking

The smoking process is smoke treatment. There are two ways: cold and hot smoking. In the first case, the fish is processed with cold smoke, so it is pre-salted. In the second case, mackerel is treated with hot smoke, that is, it is subjected to heat treatment. This method is considered the most correct and safe, since all bacteria die during the smoking process.

Smoked mackerel at home can be prepared in other ways: in onion peel, with black tea or liquid smoke. It will not be completely smoked, but no less tasty.

Fish for smoking buy fresh or chilled. When buying, pay attention to appearance mackerel. The eyes of the fish should be transparent, and there should not be any yellow or brown spots on the carcass. And, of course, there should be no foreign smell. If you buy frozen mackerel, it is better to opt for dry-frozen fish.

Before smoking, the fish must be gutted and washed. If it is provided by the recipe, marinate, and only then start smoking.

Consider all the known recipes for cooking smoked mackerel at home.

Recipe 1. Hot smoked mackerel at home

Ingredients

mackerel;

spices for fish;

salt;

a mixture of peppers;

onion;

bay leaf;

Cooking method

1. Gut the fish, remove the gills and rinse the mackerel under the tap. Onion free from the peel, rinse and cut into slices. Sort the dill, wash and dry.

2. Put the mackerel in a deep oval shape with the backs down. Put onions, dill, a mixture of peppers into each abdomen, Bay leaf and salt.

3. Dilute 100 g of salt in a liter of water and fill the fish with this brine. Leave the fish in the brine for six hours, then drain the water, put the fish on a towel and dry it. Stab the bellies with toothpicks, or drag the carcasses with threads.

4. Put dry alder branches, a leaf in the smokehouse, and install a grate on top. Lay the fish on the grill with the bellies up. Smoke fish for about an hour. Then carefully remove the fish from the grill, free the bellies from herbs and spices and cool.

Recipe 2. Smoked mackerel at home in a cold way

Ingredients

six carcasses of mackerel;

70 ml of liquid smoke;

50 g of sugar;

two handfuls of onion peel;

liter of water;

Cooking method

1. Gut the mackerel, remove the gills and rinse under the tap. Lay out on a towel-lined board and pat dry.

2. Peel the onion from the husk, rinse it, put it in a saucepan and cover with cold water. Add sugar and salt to this. Put on fire and cook the husk mixture for 25 minutes.

3. Cool the resulting broth slightly and strain. Mix it with liquid smoke.

4. Place the prepared mackerel in the brine, press down on top with a load and keep in this form for two days.

5. After this time, remove the fish, rinse under the tap and dry. Before serving, cut the mackerel into portions.

Recipe 3. Smoked mackerel at home in onion peel

Ingredients

two carcasses of mackerel;

75 g of sugar;

liter of water;

incomplete glass of strong brewed tea;

three handfuls of onion peel;

a pinch of coriander grains and black peppercorns;

30 g of sugar;

two bay leaves.

Cooking method

1. We separate the head from the mackerel, cut the abdomen and clean the offal. Be sure to remove the black film from the walls of the abdomen, then rinse the carcasses under the tap.

2. Pour a liter of water into the pan and put it on the stove. We remove the husk from the onion, rinse it well under the tap. We put the prepared husk in boiling water. We twist the fire and cook the onion peel for about five minutes. Then turn off the fire and insist the broth for ten minutes, and then filter through a sieve.

3. Brew strong tea in 200 ml of boiling water. Add salt and sugar, coriander, tea leaves, bay leaf, pepper to the strained broth and put it back on the stove. Close the container with a lid and boil the resulting solution. Then turn off the fire and cool the solution.

4. Pour the resulting broth into a deep, flat shape and lay out the prepared mackerel. Lightly press down on top with a plate. We remove the fish in a cool place for three days. It needs to be turned over from time to time.

5. After this time, we take out the fish from the marinade and dip it with a paper towel. We hang the fish by the tail on the balcony or in the cellar and leave it to weather for a couple of hours. Then grease the mackerel with sunflower oil, cut into portioned pieces and serve.

Recipe 4. Smoked mackerel at home in European style

Ingredients

three carcasses of mackerel;

liter of water;

60 g sugar;

140 ml of liquid smoke;

100 g smoked salt;

60 g of saffron;

a pinch of curry seasoning.

Cooking method

1. Gut the mackerel, remove the heads and clean inner part abdomen from black film. Wash the fish under the tap, put it on a towel and dry it.

2. Boil a liter of water in a saucepan. Pour boiling water over saffron, when the herb is infused, pour the resulting tincture into a saucepan. Add salt, curry and sugar to the slightly cooled broth.

3. Do plastic bottle cut off the neck with a volume of two liters. Lower the fish into the bottle so that the tails are at the top. Pour the mackerel with the cooled marinade. Pour in liquid smoke.

4. Leave the fish for four days, turning them by the tails every day so that the coloring is uniform. After this time, remove the fish and hang it by the tails to dry.

Recipe 5. Smoked mackerel at home on an air grill

Ingredients

two carcasses of mackerel;

5 g turmeric;

liquid smoke;

vegetable oil;

salt and Provence herbs.

Cooking method

1. Mackerel must be cleaned of the insides and the head separated from the carcass. Clean the abdomen from the inside of the black film, rinse under the tap and dry slightly.

2. Mix 50 g of salt with herbs and turmeric, add two capfuls of liquid smoke and stir. Coat the fish carcasses with the resulting mixture. Put the mackerel in a bag, close tightly and bandage. Put the fish in the refrigerator for a couple of days. Remove the mackerel from the bag and grease it with vegetable oil.

3. Pour water into a deep bowl, add alder or apple shavings with liquid smoke. Stir, put on the bottom of the air grill and sprinkle with steamer. Turn on the air fryer and heat the chips.

4. Put the mackerel on the middle grill, set the air grill temperature to 80 degrees and smoke it for 30 minutes. Turn the mackerel every ten minutes and coat it with oil. At the end of smoking, wrap the fish with foil, cool and put in the refrigerator. Cut the fish only after it has completely cooled, otherwise it may fall apart.

Recipe 6. Smoked mackerel at home "Golden"

Ingredients

three carcasses of mackerel;

water - liter;

100 g of salt;

80 g sugar;

dry tea brewing - four tbsp. l.;

four handfuls of onion peel;

allspice and black pepper - six peas each;

bay leaf - three pcs.

Cooking method

1. Gut mackerel carcasses, remove heads and tails. Clean the black film from the inside of the abdomen and wash the fish under the tap. Place the mackerel on a towel and pat dry.

2. Put the onion peel into the pan, add sugar, salt and dry brewing of black tea. Pour everything with a liter of water and put on fire, boil. Add peppercorns and bay leaves to the marinade, boil over low heat for a quarter of an hour, cool and strain.

3. Cut the mackerel carcasses into three parts, put them in a deep container and pour over the slightly cooled brine. Cover and marinate for two days at room temperature. Turn the fish twice a day. Then put the fish in the refrigerator for another couple of days. Remove the fish from the brine, pat dry with a napkin and transfer to another dish. Keep refrigerated.

Recipe 7. Smoked mackerel at home in a pan

Ingredients

two large carcasses of mackerel;

water - liter;

75 g of table salt;

30 g of sugar;

allspice peas - 10 pcs.;

bay leaf - 3 pcs.;

black leaf tea - two tbsp. l.;

rice - 150 g.

Cooking method

1. Fill the rice with water so that it slightly covers it, and leave it overnight, during which time all the liquid will be absorbed into the rice. Add a tablespoon of tea to the rice. We spread this mixture in foil, wrap it and leave a small hole.

2. Boil water and add pepper, salt, bay leaf and sugar to it. Boil the brine for a minute and turn off the heat.

3. We cut the belly of the mackerel, clean the offal and rinse well under the tap. We immerse the prepared fish in the marinade, set the load on top and put it in the refrigerator for a day.

4. We take out the mackerel from the marinade and dip it with a napkin. We take a frying pan, cover the bottom with foil folded in several layers, put rice with tea in foil, hole up. We put the pan on the fire and heat it until a light smoke appears.

5. Place the grate in the pan, on which we lay out the mackerel. Cover with a lid and smoke the fish for 20 minutes on each side. Cool the finished fish, cut into portioned pieces and serve.

Recipe 8. Smoked mackerel slices at home

Ingredients

two medium carcasses of mackerel;

80 g coarse salt;

40 g of sugar;

liquid smoke or smoked salt - 1 tsp;

bulb;

olive oil;

a few peas of allspice;

a small pinch of coriander seeds;

Bay leaf.

Cooking method

1. We make an incision on the belly of the mackerel and take out the insides, separate the head from the carcass. Then we make a longitudinal incision along the ridge and carefully remove the bones and the ridge. You should get two fillets.

2. Place the processed fish in a deep plate. In a separate bowl, mix all the dry ingredients with pepper and bay leaf. Sprinkle the mackerel fillet with the resulting mixture. Cover with cling film and refrigerate for eight hours.

3. After this time, we take out the fillet, clean it from salt and spices and rinse under the tap. We take out the remaining bones, remove the skin and cut the fish into pieces. Place the mackerel in a deep bowl. Finely chop the peeled onion and sprinkle the fish with it, sprinkle abundantly olive oil and serve to the table. Mackerel can be stored in the refrigerator in a tightly closed container for three days.

Recipe 9. Smoked mackerel at home on the grill

Ingredients

four carcasses of mackerel;

under Art. l. lemon juice and mustard;

2 tbsp. l. ground black pepper;

0.5 cups of sugar and salt.

Cooking method

1. Soak the wood chips for a day. We cut the mackerel's abdomen and free it from the insides, remove the tails and heads, make an incision along the ridge and remove the ridge and bones. In a separate bowl, mix sugar and salt and rub the peeled carcasses with this mixture on all sides. We send it to the refrigerator for half an hour.

2. In a bowl, mix black pepper, lemon juice and mustard. Rub the resulting mixture into the fillet and leave for another half hour.

3. We remove the legs from the barbecue and kindle a mild fire. We collect burnt coals in a pile. Install the grate on top. We drain the liquid from the fish, blot it with a napkin and put it on aluminum foil, in which we first make several holes.

4. We place a sheet of foil with fish on the grill. After a quarter of an hour, we check the condition of the fish, the crust should be shiny, and the mackerel itself should be dense, opaque and not dry inside. Turn over so that the fish is smoked evenly.

For smoking, wood of certain types of wood should be used to make the mackerel fragrant and tasty. For this, alder, poplar, mountain ash, or wood of fruit trees is suitable. The use of damp or rotten chips is not allowed.
It is better to smoke mackerel without the insides and head.
If you smoke fish in an automatic smokehouse, then the fish should spend at least a day in it, and two large carcasses.
In order for smoked mackerel to be stored longer, it must first be dried well.
Before smoking, put a bunch of greens in the abdomen, this will make the fish even more fragrant.
Be sure to dry the fish with napkins before smoking so that it is completely dry.

Step 1: clean the fish.

The initial preparation of mackerel depends on what kind of fish you bought, if it is frozen, then the carcasses must be thawed naturally, that is, just put them in a deep bowl and put them in a cool place or in the refrigerator for 1 - 2 hours During this time, the fish will completely melt. In no case do not try to defrost the fish in warm water; this can spoil the whole mackerel, its meat will become soft and move away from the bones.

After the fish has melted, we lay each carcass in turn on a cutting board, cut off their heads, gut them from the insides, rinse under running cold running water and dry the mackerel with paper kitchen towels from excess moisture.

Now, using a sharp, thin knife, we alternately make one small longitudinal incision in the tail part of the carcasses with an approximate length in 1 centimeter. We take a dense thread or oiled twine, cut it with scissors into lengths up to 20 centimeters and thread 1 rope into the cuts on the tails. After we tie the ends of each twine with a tight knot so that we get a loop. Pour salt into a deep plate, the first preparation is over, it's time to start salting.

Step 2: Salt the fish.

We put a couple of stainless steel trays on the kitchen table. We pick up one fish carcass and start rubbing salt into the mackerel, first inside all the costal bones.

Then outside into the skin of the fish. We are not very zealous, in any case the fish will salt, and with increased friction, the skin can come off it, this will make the finished product not very aesthetically high quality.

Light, unobtrusive salting from all sides and inside is quite enough, but we don’t regret salt at the same time, about 1 tablespoon for each carcass.

We put the salted mackerel carcasses in trays, tighten the containers with plastic cling film so that there are no gaps, and put in the refrigerator for 7-8 hours, and best of all, overnight.

Step 3: dry the fish.

After the required time has elapsed, remove the trays with fish from the refrigerator and remove the plastic wrap from each. We shift the fish into the sink and rinse the carcasses under cold running water from excess salt. Dry the mackerel with paper kitchen towels and let dry a little more. For example, we pull the rope in a convenient place, put carcasses on it and let them hang in this form, at least 1 hour. If you have a heater that's even better, just put it next to the hanging mackerel and turn it on. average temperature, in 30 minutes the fish will be dry.

We also prepare alder sawdust, if they are dry, put them in a deep bowl and pour a small amount of water, for 2 handfuls sawdust approximately 4 - 5 tablespoons ordinary running water. The sawdust should not be dry, but it should not be completely wet either. In the first case, if they are very dry, they will start to burn, as a result, the fish will burn, and if the sawdust is very wet, then they may stop producing smoke and the fish will be smoked poorly, which can lead to poisoning.

Step 4: prepare the smokehouse and smoke the fish.

Now it all depends on the type of your smoker, in my version it is an ordinary old machine with primitive devices, so smoking will be a little primitive. On the bottom of the smokehouse in an even layer in 1 centimeter lay out alder sawdust soaked in water. We put the smoker on the fire. If you have it gas, then turn on the gas, if it is ordinary, then we kindle a small fire from firewood in the lower compartment. The fire must always be medium! We put dried mackerel carcasses on metal poles so that there is a small distance between them, it’s enough 5 - 6 centimeters free space and install them on the smokehouse that has begun to puff.

We cover the machine with a lid and smoke mackerel for 15 minutes, after we remove the lid and release smoke from the smokehouse, this will save the fish from bitterness. Then we cover the “hot machine” with a lid again and smoke the fish for another 25 - 30 minutes until fully prepared. After we remove the lid from the smokehouse, remove the poles with fish from it and transfer the carcasses back to the trays. Let it cool slightly, put it back on a rope and dry it in a cool place. from 3 to 8 hours.

After the required time has elapsed, we transfer the fish back to the trays and remove the oiled twine from each.

Then we wrap each carcass in plastic wrap in order to keep the mackerel from drying out, again lay the fish in trays and put the containers in the refrigerator. It is necessary to store such a fish only in a cool place at a temperature from -2 to +3 degrees preferably no more 3 - 4 days.

With longer storage, oxidation of fatty tissues occurs, the taste and smell of fish deteriorate. So if you have prepared a very large portion, share hot smoked mackerel with your loved ones and enjoy a great fish!

Step 5: serve hot smoked mackerel.

Hot smoked mackerel is delicious both hot and cold. It makes excellent salads, fish pates, fragrant cuts for sandwiches and an excellent snack for light or strong aperitifs. Some gourmets make wonderful casseroles, pies and crispy pizza from such a fish. Mackerel cooked according to this recipe is tender, the connective tissues of the fish are soft with a pronounced smoked flavor. Cook and enjoy! Enjoy your meal!

- - Mackerel can be smoked on a small fire, but within 2 hours.

- - If you have a small home electric smokehouse, then you need to set the temperature in it to 100 degrees Celsius and smoke the prepared fish for 1.5 hours.

- – In addition to alder sawdust, you can use sawdust from trees such as apple, plum, cherry, oak, beech, aspen, walnut, birch. Sawdust should be without bark, it contains tar, which during smoking can give the fish a bitter taste. For barbecue smoking, corn cobs, poplar sawdust, and nutshells are sometimes used.

- - If desired, spices such as red ground pepper, black ground pepper, chopped lemongrass or any other spices that are suitable for smoking can be added to the salt.

I have cooked smoked mackerel at home more than once, but over time I "successfully" forgot this simple recipe, until I read about it again with the advent of the holidays. I want to say that the fish turns out exactly one to one with the purchased one, and whoever does not know that it is cooked in your kitchen will never guess! The taste is the same, the color is the same, the only difference is the price.

In general, lucky those who in the region have this delicious fish is inexpensive - it can be smoked in dozens with the help of liquid smoke! Its only disadvantage is its harmfulness, therefore it is best to feast on such golden mackerel several times a year or every six months.

To prepare smoked mackerel at home, prepare the necessary ingredients. Be sure to defrost frozen mackerel. By the way, I recommend buying tea in bags, as tea leaves stick to the carcass and leave ugly stains.

Cut off the head of the mackerel and remove the insides through the slit. In no case do not rip the belly open - its edges during the smoking process can wrap themselves in different sides. Rinse the carcass thoroughly in water.

Pour boiling water into a deep container and brew tea bags in it so that the water turns dark brown. Add salt and granulated sugar. Stir.

Let the brine cool down to 40C and pour in the liquid smoke. Mix everything again.

From a plastic bottle with a capacity of 1.5 or 2 liters, cut off the top with a thread - such a bottle is the best container for smoking. If you put the carcass of the fish in a pan or other container, then one of its sides will not be stained, no matter how you turn it, and in the bottle the fish will become golden on all sides! Rinse the bottle from the inside and pour the brine into it.

Dip the prepared carcass into it. The tail of the fish should remain on top. The mackerel itself will not go all the way down - it needs a little help and pinch the tail to the bottle with clothespins. Thus, the whole carcass will be colored and smoked. Move the fish bottle to the cold and leave it there for 2-3 days. Be sure to remove the clothespins every day and scroll the carcass slightly, as one side may be leaning against the bottle.

After the specified time, you can remove the smoked mackerel from the brine. She looks exactly like a store, but that's not all.

Tie cooking twine to the fish tail and hang the carcass by the tail to drain and chaff for 2-4 hours. It is advisable to do this over the sink, as I did.